Gateway Corporate Center

Suburban office parks surround every major city in America. Most are characterized by non-descript warehouses, distribution centers and office buildings with gleaming glass and steel facades.

When Jack O’Brien, founder and president of O’Brien and Associates Architecture, was commissioned to design a new office complex along Interstate 636 near the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, he wanted to create something that stood apart. The result is Transwestern Gateway Corporate Center I, a pair of attractive Class A office buildings that were among the first in the country to feature Vistacool^® Azuria^® glass, a new architectural glazing by Vitro Architectural Glass (formerly PPG Glass).

O’Brien said the decision to specify Vistacool^® Azuria^® glass for his project was driven by its aesthetics and performance characteristics.

“We knew that our building would have some very strong competitors with quality architectural design,” he explained. “We wanted to establish a strong presence along the highway and make a statement that would draw potential tenants, clients and brokers to the property.”

Vistacool^® Azuria^® glass was developed by Vitro in response to demand from architects like O’Brien who want an environmentally progressive architecural glass that provides just a hint of reflectivity, together with a rich color palette. It is part of a collection of three Vistacool^® glasses, which includes, Vistacool^® Solargray^® and Vistacool^® Pacifica^® glasses. Each is distinguished by a proprietary, color neutral, second-surface coating that transmits high levels of natural light while saturating the color of the glass substrate underneath.

For O’Brien, the color of Vistacool^® Azuria^® glass makes his building thoroughly distinct from competitors. “Many of the buildings in that area have a Southwest theme,” he said. “We wanted something a little lighter with more of an international flair that appealed to people visiting Dallas from other parts of the world.”

Vistacool^® Azuria^® glass is also different from other blue-tinted reflective glasses because of its environmental performance.

Despite its rich aqua-blue appearance, Vistacool^® Azuria^® has visible light transmittance (VLT) of 47 percent and a solar heat gain coefficient (SHGC) of 0.34 in a standard 1-inch insulating glass unit. That combination produces a light to solar gain (LSG) ratio of 1.39, well above the minimum 1.25 LSG threshold for spectrally selective glass as defined by the U.S. Department of Energy. Most blue-tinted reflective glasses block too much light to be considered spectrally selective.

Now that the building is open, O’Brien couldn’t be more pleased with his glass selection. “We’re very satisfied with its energy efficiency and I believe it’s the nicest-looking product on I-636,” he said. “The glass’s performance and the building’s international design place us head and shoulders above our competition."